A Chinese newborn miraculously survived being buried alive for two hours after her parents believed she was stillborn.
The Daily Mail reports that the baby, who has yet to be named, was born to Lu Xiaoyun and her husband He Yong on their farm in Dongdong, northeast China's Liaoning Province.
While working on the farm, Lu felt a sudden sharp pain in her belly and went into labor unexpectedly. Only four months pregnant, the young mother gave birth to what she thought was a stillborn infant. Her husband, Yong, rushed home from work and found what he also believed was a deceased baby in a pool of blood.
Yong called an ambulance while Lu's mother buried the baby in the backyard. When the ambulance came, paramedics asked for the infant--but Yong said his wife had suffered a miscarriage at four months of pregnancy and the baby had died.
However, while at the hospital, doctors insisted on viewing the newborn to confirm the death, and Yong returned home to retrieve the body. Reportedly shocked that the baby had already been buried, he dug up his small daughter and discovered that she was breathing.
When the baby was examined by doctors, it was determined that Lu had been six months pregnant, not four months. And, amazingly, the baby girl survived despite being underground for two hours,
After three days in the hospital, the baby was discharged because the family could not continue to pay the hospital bills.
"My mother-in-law has chronic diseases and I also have a 7-year-old daughter," Yong told the Mirror. "My wife doesn't have a job. I am the only one who works."
But after the family's story was picked up by a Chinese newspaper, donations began pouring in for the miracle baby.
Doctors say she is now improving after being taken back to the hospital for further treatment, and is currently in an incubator.
Chinese media reports have been quick to confirm that there is no evidence that the baby's quick burial was due to her gender. As Gaia News reports, "An unpleasant aspect of the reaction to the story was the suspicion that the family deliberately hastened to bury the child because it was a girl."
China's one-child policy, which started in the 1970s, is believed to have prevented some 400 million births, according to Xinhua. However, last year, China relaxed its policy, allowing parents without siblings to have two children.
